Midnight Murder
by Silver-moonshine01
Summary: Neal's whole life changes within' a minute. All because of what he did 14 years ago.
1. Discovery

As Neal walked into the office for work he could tell something was off, Peter was nowhere in sight, and for Peter that was odd. He saw Diana and strolled over to her, "what's happening today?" he asked.

"You haven't heard." Neal was confused, normally he was the first person peter went to with a case. "Peter is talking to a kid, but she said she wouldn't come to the office, so they are at Peters place. I think peter will tell you the rest when you get there, even if I wanted to tell you though I couldn't I have no idea what this is about."

"The rest? Like what the case is actually about?"

"I'm not sure if it is a case." that _doesn't make sense why would peter be talking to a kid unless it was about a case. And what could a kid be doing caught in the middle of white collar crime?_ Neals thoughts were interrupted as Jones walked up.

"You know, my buddy almost had a problem like this, he changed his address, phone and hair after he left college, y'know, just in case."

"What, you think Peter had some college sweet heart and she didn't tell him he had a kid till now? Thats harsh."

"No, Peter wouldn't do that, would he?" asked Diana

"What other explanation is there?"Asked Jones, Neal had a hard time believing that peter would do that, but he couldn't think of any other reason for what this little girl could be. He decided the easiest way to find out was to go to peters and he could explain it.

"I'm going to go give Peter a hand, see if it's a case or not."

"good luck Caffrey, call us if you need help calming El down, ok, we'll bring backup." it sounded like Jones was joking but Neal realized he was dead serious.

Neal arrived at Peters house, when he knocked on the door El answered looking... confused, no it was more like concern on her face. _oh maybe Jones was right._ "what's wrong El?" Neal asked.

"Um, I think you had better come and see for yourself."

"Look El whatever it is I'm sure it was a long time ago."

"What? What do you think is wrong?" there we go, now the look was confused.

"Oh nothing, just something Jones said."

"Uh huh, well come in." She said as her face turned to worry. Neal walked into the room to see Peter talking to the girl, who was sitting on the couch facing away from Neal. As he entered Peter looked up, he too had a face of concern, but it seemed not for him, but for the little girl sitting in front of him.

"Hey Peter, is this a new suspect?" Said Neal, surveying the scene. And then she turned around, She had Curly black hair with her riglets resting on her shoulders, she looked about 15 but she didn't look like Peter, no she looked more like himself. She had the same piercing blue eyes as his mother and in turn himself.

"Hi, I'm Alana, You must be Neal." she said to him.

"Yes, That right, but how do you know who I am?"

"Well to say that I think a little background information is in order, I'm 14 years old, until a week ago I lived with my mother but seven days ago she was murdered. Her name was Larissa Johnson," At that, Neal felt like a wave had crashed into him, he had to sit down, but the girl kept talking."I was born on the 23rd of May, 1996; my mother gave me my father's last name of-"

"Caffrey." Breathed Neal.


	2. Explination

_"My mother gave me my fathers last name of-"_

_"Caffrey." _

"Yes, I would have been fine on the street by myself, except that whoever killed my mother is now looking for me, so I went to the library and looked up anything under the name Caffrey. I found a man, or a criminal you could say, who had been caught and sent to prison but was now working for the FBI in new York, So I came from Seattle, and found the NY FBI office, and waited for a man by the name of Peter Burke, who it had said was the agent in Charge of you. I refused to go into the white collar building in case you were already inside, so I came back to peters house and here we are."

"Here we are." Neal whispered to himself."Why didn't I know?" Neal asked his... no it's too weird calling her his daughter. He just doesn't know her, how can he call her his own? she interrupted his thoughts with her explanation.

"My mother left as soon as she knew, no offence but she didn't want her daughter to grow up, well, a criminal. I guess that didn't change anything-"

"Wait, you-"

"Are an_ alleged_ criminal, but there is no proof. That's the reason my mother was murdered. I ran a con on a high end business man, his name is John Reveres and-"

"WHAT! You did a con on one of the most dangerous stock traders in Seattle! What on earth were you thinking?"

"It's in my blood, what could I do. It was so thrilling, but the main reason was because mom wanted me to go to a good school, but she didn't have the money, so I helped a little bit-"

"But why Reveres?"

"I just picked a random guy off the street, how was I supposed to know who he was?"

"You should have been more careful!" Neal was now yelling, he sat down and started sobbing, what was he going to tell Sara?

"Allie, do you want some Lunch or something?" El was always so lovely, he'd have to thank her, he'd get some flowers or something. Oh heck he was going to have to raise this young girl, He'd need Elizabeth's help, and even Sara if she stuck around. "Yes please Elizabeth thank you."

"Peter, you should probably call Diana and Jones, They still don't know what's happening. I said I would call, but..."

"Are you sure you want them to know?" Peter was so caring in his own way, but now that Neal thought about it, no he didn't want them to know, it's his business.

"Are we going to do this case or will another section do it?"

"Considering your part in this case to be safe I think it's best if we do it, but what do you want to do about Allie?"

"Oh um... I really don't know, I don't want her to go into foster care, but I wonder if she will want to stay with me, oh and Peter, when you call Diana just make it clear Allie isn't your daughter..."

"You thought she was mine!" he almost yelled but kept quiet enough so that Neither Allie or El heard.

"No, technically it came from Jones bu-"

"I don't care where it came from; you're going to have to explain this because as soon as they see her they'll know."

"I know, just give me time to gather my thoughts, can I go home, so I can," he paused contemplating "set up a room, or a bed, and get Moz out." He smiled as he mentioned mozzie.

"Ok and I'll talk to her about where she wants to stay, but if she doesn't choose you, you have to remember she doesn't know you. Oh and, which room are you going to give her, the Cupboard or the bathroom?" Peter chuckled.

"I'm still thinking about that... I'll call you, and I have to get onto Sara... I'll see you later.

"Sara, hi, um are you busy?"

"What, right now? Neal what brought this on?"

"It's kind of a long story, please come to my place, how about I make you lunch?" He knew he was starting to sound desperate but it was too important for her not to come, he had to tell her.

"Umm, yeah ok, but what's so important that you want me to come home? Are you sure your ok, is Mozzie alright?" She called it home, his apartment was home, and he was going to bring his daughter to his house and technically kick her out.

"Yeah mozzie is fine, I just have to tell you something."

"Ok, Hunnie, see you soon."

"Bye, Sara..." he said as she hung up.

There was an odd air as Sara entered the room, it felt cold and strained. Whatever Neal was going to tell her was important but difficult. What could he be wanting to tell her so badly? Did he want to get married? Crap, this can't happen; she's not ready to be married. What is she meant to say?

"Neal, Hunnie, are you ok."

"I-I'm ok, I have to tell you something... you might want to sit down." By that time she was quite worried, _if he was proposing he wouldn't be so serious, and he'd say he needed to ask something... right._

"Sara, you know I had a long life before you... well, it's caught up with me." _But that's not something you would say if you were proposing..._ "When I lived in Seattle, I had a girlfriend. Her name was Larissa, but that's not important." _no, it sounds like he's dumping me, but why, because of this Larissa. Has she come back? _"What's important is that one night she disappeared. I didn't know why, but I do now. She disappeared because she was pregnant, and she didn't want her child growing up... well, like me. But last week Larissa was Murdered, because her daughter ran a con on John Reveres an-"

"JOHN REVERES! Why did she choose john reveres?"

"Apparently she picked a random guy from the street. But he is now getting revenge, he's after her. So she went to peter, to get to me and now she is deciding where she is going to stay. Sara, I told you this because I don't want to lose you over something stupid I did 14 years ago. And... I need your help." He said this more like a plea, what could she do.

"Neal, something you did years ago isn't going to make me leave, I love you, and a daughter is just what you need to get you on track. Now is she staying here?"

"Uh maybe, I'm not sure. I hope so."

"Ok, where are you going to put her? What you could do is that spare wardrobe, you could put a bed in there and some shelves and she could have that as her room. It's actually quite lovely."

"Sara, will you come back to peters with me, after I set it up? Come and meet her?"

"After we set it up, sure. I will go out and get some doona covers and pillows, you set up a bed. And call Mozzie; better tell him he can't pop around, even if you do know it's him every time."

"Ok, I'll see you soon" he said as he pulled her into an embrace, "I love you."


	3. Understanding

_"Ok, I'll see you soon" he said as he pulled her into an embrace, "I love you."_

Sara and Neal were on their way over to Peter's house. They had set up the bedroom, and cleaned up his apartment. Now they had to find out whether she was staying. As they entered Peters house Elizabeth met them in the door way. "She really wants to get to know you but isn't sure if she really wants to trust you."

"Can I talk to her, is she ok?" Neal asked

"Yes she's fine, just unsure."

"Thanks El, Lets go." as they walked into the kitchen there was so much going through Neals head, would she like him, did she want to stay, was she safe if she didn't. There was so much to think about, how could he do this right?

"Alana, hey... this is Sara. Um, we've just set up a room for you at my place, but you don't have to stay there if you don't want to"

"Um I think I would love to stay with you...Dad. Agent burke said he was going to look into my mother's murder. Can I see your house? Is that alright agent burke?"

"That's fine Alana, although I have to say it's a little small for a house. Neal's part at least. Jones can escort you there."

"Thanks Peter, for everything."

"No problem Kid."

"So this is the main room. Kitchen, dining room and my bed room. Over here is the bathroom, and through here is your

Temporary room." it had been a long tiring day for Neal, and it was still only 3 o'clock in the afternoon!

"Thanks... its lovely." that's what Sara had said. But they needed to talk about the real problem, the real threat, that made

it very hard to get onto mozzie. But it was possible.

"Mozzie, I need you at my place now." Neal was speaking through a VC radio. "C'mon I know you can hear me."

"Who are you talking to?" Allie was sceptical. Maybe her father had gone mad.

"Oh, he's not mad, although his friend might be." Said Sara, reading her face.

"Mozzie is not mad!" he snapped "Sara, you're meant to be on my side." Neal said sulkily.

"Oh I am, I'm just not sure how sane mozzie really is." she said teasing him

"And, does this Mozzie have a real name?"

"That is his real name, he's... odd I know, but he's always been there for me."

"Ok, well I'm going to settle in... call me when you get onto this Mozzie." She said the last bit a little sarcastically as

she left. she was cute, but she wanted to show that she was independent. she looked so much like her mother, but she acted

just like himself. How was he meant to do this?

"Sara I don't know how I'm going to do this." he said kind of desperately. "I don't know how to look after a teenage girl."

"You're asking me for advice? I don't know how to raise a teenager either."

"But she can relate better to a female. any way it doesn't matter, but-" He broke off and pulled her into his arms. "There's no more of this." He said sadly but teasingly and let her go, just as his phone rang. "Hey Peter, what's up?"

"Neal! Reveres is at June's door, WITH A GUN! DONT LET HER OPEN THAT DOOR!" Neal took off, throwing his phone through the

air and racing down the stairs.

"JUNE! STOP, DONT ANSWER THE DOOR!" Neal yelled as he knocked over a table in the hallway.

"Neal, what's wrong?" she asked flustered.

"June, the man on the other side of that door is looking for the little girl upstairs, he will stop at nothing to get to

her. He already killed her mother. Lock the door."

"But what about mozzie, he was just outside that's why I was getting th-"

"Moz is out there!" Neal panicked he went up to the door and looked through the peep hole. there was Reveres holding Mozzie

by the collar...With a gun to his head. Neal needed to talk to peter, "Sara," he yelled, "bring my phone down here QUICK!"

"Neal what's going on?" she asked as she walked down the stairs.

"RUN! Reveres is holding a gun to mozzies head on the other side of this door. I need to talk to peter." Just as Neal got his phone Reveres yelled through the door.

"Bring the girl out and you bald little friend will get off with only a cut, don't open this door and he will have more than a scar."

"Crap peter what do I do?" Neal was so upset he almost threw the phone again.

"First Neal calm down, the FBI is on their way they'll be here in a minute, until then just wait."

"Dad, what's going on?" Allie asked from the top of the stairs. he wasn't going to tell her, but he thought it better he did.

"Reveres has mozzie at gun point behind this door. He wants you, but there is no chance that will happen. The FBI is on its

way."

"No, Just put me out there, you've known mozzie longer."

"no way, I will not kill my only daughter, Mozzie can look after himself."

"Neal... what's this all about, if I die without knowing why I swear I'm going to kill you!"

"Mozzie!" Neal said desperately. "Mozzie you won't die, I'm bringing my suits over! They will be here soon."

"Oh great Dry cleaning. They better hurry."

"That's it! I'm not waiting any longer. The girl come out in 10 seconds or the Bald little man comes with me, Take your pick"

Said Reveres."10, 9, 8"

"Wait there's a little girl? who is she!"

"7, 6, 5"

"Don't worry Moz! we will find you!"

"4, 3, 2"

"Wait, What! No you do not give up! you hear me we can wait! STOPPP YOU BIG UGLY OOAAFF!"

"MOZZIE!" Screamed Neal, as he fell into Sara's arms. "no, no he can't be gone no we have to find him! PETER WE HAVE TO FIND HIM!" Neal screamed into his phone.

"Shh, Neal it's going to be ok. We'll find him. I'm sure mozzie has been in worse situations."

"This is my entire fault. I'm sorry, I should just leave."

"No! Allie this is not your fault! And you are not just going to walk out that door. I am going to do everything I can to Look after you!" as he said this he walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. "I don't know you well, but you are already too precious to give up" he said tears streaming down his face.

"Thank you... Daddy"


	4. Leads

_"I don't know you well, but you are already too precious to give up"_

_"Thank you...Daddy"_

Neal decided to take Allie into the office that day. He knew it meant he would have to explain it several times but it was the best way to keep her safe. He couldn't leave her alone at Junes, and besides that way they could work on the case with a witness...Who was he kidding. There was only one reason and that was so that Reveres couldn't get to her. He didn't want this girl who had just come into his life to be taken away. It already hurt enough not having mozzie. He couldn't loose her too. He could tell as soon as she entered the building that she was uneasy. He didn't expect Diana to be so surprised though, wouldn't it be more likely that _he_ would run around in collage that peter. Not that he went to college but still.

"Diana this is Allie, she's a witness in a murder investigation."

"Peter she looks like more than a witness, is she his-"

"Daughter, yes. Jones met her yesterday. He escorted them home. Cut him some slack it was 14 years ago."

"Wow, I never expected that Neal would have a daughter, how long have we known?"

"Since before he did, well no, only about an hour before."

"Oh, so this is the young girl that would only talk to you. We thought she was..." She broke off with a sheepish look.

"Just keep an eye out for mozzie, we need to find him."

"Ok boss, I'm on it."

Peter called everyone into the conference room, they might have something. "Alright everyone, we've got a lead! Yesterday a man with a hood, who we believed to be Reveres, walked around the FBI building, we think looking around for ways to enter without being caught and such. But he didn't realise as he left that we were following him. We followed him all the way back to a warehouse on Galbraith St. We think that's were he's keeping Mozzie. But don't jump to conclusions; it could just be a ware house full of computers used to trade stocks. It might not even be Reveres. Don't get your hopes up."

Neal waited until everyone had left the conference room so he could talk to peter alone.

"Peter, do you really think he will be there?"

"I really don't know. It might not even be Reveres. But it's all we have."

"I hope so. When are we going to check it out?"

"When we get a search warrant, but we might not even get a warrant, we don't have any proof that it's Reveres."

"But... what can we do then?"

"We can check out the premises, as long as we don't go in. We can watch it and wait."

"But every minute we wait mozzies position gets worse! Shouldn't they send some ransom?"

"All you're going to get in a ransom is that they want Allie. You're not up to working today I'm going to send you home with Jones, to guard the door, and rest and think. If you need anything call me. Now go."

"Peter I'm-"

"You're not fine and I'm not giving you a choice."

"Fine" Neal said sulkily.

"Play a board game; get to know your daughter."

"Ok..." when peter said that a half smile crept slowly across Neals face. He was going to be a great dad. Peter was actually quite proud, until Neal started muttering about using the training jacket for fun. _Oh well it's not like she can try it on anyone, they're both stuck at Junes whether they like it or not._

"Look out for Moz Peter." Said Neal as he left.


	5. Lessons

_"Look out for Moz Peter." Said Neal as he left._

"So, what do you want to do this afternoon?" Neal asked Allie as they got home. He hoped June had some board games.

"Do you have anything...y'know" She asked. Neal was pretty sure he knew what she meant.

"What that has to do with my, line of work?" He asked childishly a giant grin spreading across his face.

"Yes! I have so much to learn and what else are we gonna do? We're cooped up like chickens." She said. She was a lot more mature then him, especially when talking about cons.

"You know, it's this sort of thing that got you into this mess... But I guess the old training jacket needs a little dusting off anyway." And then he thought about the last time they had used it. He and Mozzie were teaching Peter how to act like Neal when they had gotten themselves into a silly situation. Those days were so much fun, and Mozzie and Peter had really bonded. He missed mozzie already, and it had only been about 10 hours since he had disappeared. Neal had spent most of last night up looking through Reveres file and drinking wine. But he had done one smart thing, and waited until Allie was asleep.

"You know last time we used this jacket was for Peter." he said smiling

"No way! You taught a FBI agent your secrets? Why?"

"It was a matter or Power or no Power across New York. A woman came into the FBI looking for Peter. He was running late and she was edgy, saying she had to go for a meeting, so I pretended to be Peter, so we could figure this out. And that meant Peter had to be me, so we had to give him some lessons. It was quite entertaining. I'll go get It." he said as he walked over to the wardrobe. Allie was so excited. One of the main reasons she wanted to get to her father was to learn about being a con... But she wanted to know more about her father. So she decided to take a look around. I guess you could call it more of a snoop, But her father must have hundreds of hiding places around his apartment. She started with the mantle against the back wall, she didn't find anything there. Oh she found a hiding place alright but it was empty. She was about to go over to his "Bedroom" when he came out of the wardrobe carrying a dusty suit jacket with bells on the pockets. Then she remembered the conversation before he got the jacket. "You said before that "we" gave peter some lessons... Who was the other person?"

"Oh yeah, it was Moz, he taught me a lot and he was the one who thought of the jacket. For Peter I mean, I was originally June's husbands."

"What happened to Junes Husband?"

"I don't know. He died before I met June."

"Oh, was he a con too?" she asked

"I'm not sure, he was a thief..." He said with one of those silly half smiles on his face. "But that's really all I know."

"Oh ok, so what are you gonna teach me?"

"I was thinking we would start with picking locks. Do you have a set?"

"No, I don't really know how to pick locks; it was more pockets and cons."

"Ok, well I think I have a spare, just let me get it." He said as he walked over to the mantle, he removed a piece of wood, and there was a compartment behind it. How did she miss that one? Her father was a lot better at this than she thought. She had severely underestimated him.

"You know, snooping around isn't the best way to get to know someone."

"How did you know?"

"Well, I have things in particular places. My note book was moved to the left, My Dummy compartment not closed properly, but it seems that you didn't get any further than the mantle before I came out. C'mon Allie. I am literally the best con in the world sweetie. You won't get much past me."

"Damn, oh well. At least I get to learn from the best." She said plastering one of Neal's perfect smiles on her face.

"Just remember who has all the experience." He relied and proceeded to explain the use of the tools and how to choose the right one to use.

They worked on lock picking for about an hour and moved onto pick pocketing, to brush up her skills. Neal had to admit, she was pretty good already, and she was a great charmer. She would be a great criminal. But Neal wasn't sure that's what he wanted her to do...

His phone interrupted his thinking as he moseyed over to his cell. He checked the caller Id and suddenly remembered peter was going to call him if anything came up. Obviously something had come up.

"Peter, what is it?" Neal sounded like he had been hovering by the phone all afternoon.

"Neal did you do anything this afternoon or did you just sit by the phone?"

"No, but I only just remembered the reason you would call. What is it Peter?"

"The man that walked around the FBI building exited the warehouse with a short man who was obviously drugged, but they had a bag over his head we don't know whether it was mozzie, but whatever happened in the van, they decided to take him back into the warehouse. We just got a search warrant and we are now on our way to the warehouse. But you are staying right there with Allie." Neal was about to protest but then remembered that he couldn't leave Allie alone. Even if Mozzies life depended on it.


	6. It's A Trap!

_**Please Review. Comments are welcome, Critical or nice or both, I would like to know how to improve.**_

_**He couldn't leave Allie alone. Even if Mozzies life depended on it.**_

"Hey, Dad... are you ok?" She asked. She had looked up to see her father looking like a bus had hit him. "You can go, I'll be fine, go find mozzie." she pleaded.

"No... No, you're more important." He replied, he knew how important it was, and it wasn't like he was allowed to go anyway.

"No I'm not! GO NOW!" she yelled at him, tears of frustration running down her face. She was the reason his best friend was missing, why didn't he just go. It would at least make her feel better.

"Allie! I'm not allowed to." He said yelling, his voice slowly getting quieter as he spoke. "Peter won't let me. And I know that I've only just come into your life, but please," he said desperately "don't yell at me. I know that I wasn't there and I can't make up for that but when you yell it just shows how lousy a job I'm doing and it hurts... I'm so sorry baby. My precious little girl." he said pulling her into a hug. Great. Now she felt guilty, but she knew it wasn't his fault. She just wanted her mum.

As if reading her mind Neal asked "what happened to your mother, you haven't really said anything. How did they get to her? Why did they kill her?" He was worried about asking about it but she needed to get it out, he just hoped she didn't cry... He didn't know how to deal with crying.

"I guess I have to go back to the start... When I first did the con."_At least she isn't crying_ thought Neal. "I did the con and got $10 000 of Reveres Money. He was an idiot, leaving it all in one bank account. I could have taken millions more, But I decided only to take what I needed."

"But why did you need $10 000?" Neal cut in.

"I was just getting to that... We had just found out mum was sick with Cancer, and the operation to get it out, as well as the hospital stay and any medications would cost way more than we could possibly afford-"

"But it can't have cost $10 000" He cut in again.

"Gahh, if you stop interrupting I might actually get there. Anyway After all that was over, the Bank was threatening to take our house away after we used the money that normally went on the mortgage for mums operation. So that's when I ran the con. After that Reveres figured out it was me, did some digging and found out why. So he figure the best was to get to me was through her. So he killed her, in the middle of the night, while I was in bed just upstairs."

"But if you were just upstairs why didn't he kill you if he is still going after you?"

"Because he thought I would give up and take myself to him, but instead I found my father who is the best conman in the world. I guess that annoyed him."

"I guess so." he said. He looked like he was deep in thought; he suddenly jumped up and ran to his phone.

"Dad? What's wrong?"

"Mozzie never would have left his GPS on; he believes in conspiracies way too much to have left it on. And Reveres would have seen if he had put it on after he grabbed him. It's a trap. He's leading peter into a trap!"

"Ahhh crap! Call him NOW!"

"IM TRYING! Please Peter please pick up your phone!"

"Hello?" Came a voice from the other line.

"IT'S A TRAP! Stop now!"

"I'm sorry who is this?"

"...Peter? Who is this?"

"I'm sorry Mr Caffrey, I believe I asked first."

"Yes, But it seems that you already know my name. Why don't you tell me yours? Or Rather where my partner is." Neal said angrily.

"Why don't you take a guess at both of those Neal?" Said the man and hung up.


End file.
